Books! Books! Books!

For Easter this year, my parents got the girls books, instead of in addition to chocolate bunnies.  Over the last few months, Elizabeth has become a girl possessed with it comes to reading - she literally consumes books.  Every night, when I come home from work, she asks me if I went to the library on the way home to get her more books.  We are currently walking a fine line between books she can read all on her own (Level 3) and those that she likes to read with an adult (in case there are some difficult words along the way).  She got a set of books in the second category from Grammy and Grandpa for Easter and was thrilled to pieces, as she had been desperately wanting them.  Emily, for her part, wants to do whatever Elizabeth does - so the fact that she received a Priscilla book (she is a HUGE fan of this character, but this was a new book) thrilled her as well.

Emily and Elizabeth, checking out their new books.

All jazzed up and ready to go! 

Memere

Memere was not at our annual family Easter celebration, so we went to visit her at her "apartment" before we headed back to Connecticut.  Because we send her so many cards and photos, the staff recognized the girls as soon as we walked in the door, which was quite funny.  Memere herself was delighted to see us and even turned down dessert (from her Easter dinner) to visit with us.  The girls delighted her and we enjoyed talking to her about Connecticut, her girlhood home.

Whenever we visit Memere, Emily loves to sit on her walker.  For some reason, it fascinates her that Memere can walk with her walker, and sit on it!! 

Memere, Elizabeth and Emily

Family Easter

We spent Easter morning with Lee's extended family, enjoying brunch at Aunt Margie and Uncle Tom's house.  The girls love visiting with all of their aunts and uncles, as well as their adult cousins (Lee's cousins).  Like last year, they had the added benefit of playing with Josh & Natalia's kids, who are younger but still similar in age.  Per the usual, they were spoiled with gifts from everyone, but they are oh so appreciative.  As we were leaving, Elizabeth said to me "boy, I am going to have a lot of thank you notes to write when we get home!"  Happy Easter to our extended family and thank you, again, for your overwhelming generosity!

Easter goodies from Uncle Chip, Aunt Chris and Jessa. 

 

Emily loved the little piggy bank.   

AGD stuff (and boogie boards, in the background) from Aunt Denise. 

AGD stuff 

An AGD hairdryer - just what we needed! 

A mirror and table(?) 

And a bike (because every AGD needs a bike!) 

Too adorable! 

 

 

Even Lucia gets in on the action with Emily's bitty baby and the bike helmet. 

Driveway paint/chalk from Aunt Sylvia and Uncle Barry. 

Emily, Nolan and Lucia running around. 

New best buddies Lucia and Emily - Emily LOVED being the big kid and adored Lucia.

Easter Morning (Early)

Because we spend Easter morning in New Hampshire, the Easter Bunny always pays an early visit to our house, arriving on Saturday instead of Sunday.  This year, the girls made out like bandits - not only did the Easter Bunny bring candy, but Mom and Dad got them plenty of loot as well, for doing so well with the no-television-during-Lent sacrifice.

When a 4 year old and a 6 year old make it through 46 days without television and without a complaint, they get a lot of stuff.  The Easter Bunny, by comparison, didn't bring much (the small basket of candy).

Emily starts working through the pile of stuff from Mommy and Daddy. 

Elizabeth shows off her Rapunzel nightgown. 

Emily checks out what the Easter Bunny brought. 

Elizabeth loves her new robe! 

Elizabeth got us all presents; she wrapped them all in her room on Thursday afternoon, so we had no idea what we were getting. 

Emily shows off one of the pictures that Elizabeth made for her. 

Daddy loves the photo plant that Elizabeth made. 

Emily and Lambie (he is an Easter lamb, after all - 5 years old this Easter)

Emily thanks Elizabeth for all of the presents.

The Experiment

Yesterday was the last day of our self-imposed disconnect from television. Some of you may be interested in learning about the impact it had on our lives - if any.  My observations are as follows:
1. We read a lot more.  A LOT more.  In fact, during Lent, we read 46 books as a family.  Elizabeth was by far the best reader, at 30 books; I was a distant second; Lee was a very distant third, but to be fair, he spent most of April repainting our bedroom, which was quite the job, considering how much cutting had to be done and how many coats it needed.  Even the book that he did read was a heavy, World Word II historical fiction.
2.  We slept more. Especially Lee.  Oftentimes, we wait until a television show (or game) is over until we go to bed but with nothing to watch, we went to bed when we were tired.  The girls didn't beg to watch "just 10 more minutes" of a show or movie before bed, so they ended up being more well rested as well.  I, however, am a compulsive reader, so it was not unusual for me to stay up until 2 am to finish a book.
3. We snacked less.  At least Lee and I did.  Usually, when we are watching television at night, we pause the television at some point and have a snack - cheese and crackers; ice cream; chips and dip.  But when we were reading at night, we rarely put down our books and got a snack.
4. We were all a bit better behaved, Emily especially.  You might think that the girls would be less behaved without television to entertain them but for the most part, they were better behaved.  First, they never asked to watch television.  They knew, from day one, that the television was off until Easter and they never asked to watch it; they never whined; they never complained.  But even better, I didn't have to deal with Emily's routine temper tantrums, which regularly occur on weeknights when it is time to turn off the television and go to bed.  With no television to turn off, there were no tantrums to be had.  Amazing.

This was a relatively common sight over the last six weeks.

So what will we change, if anything?  Although I don't have Lee's complete buy-in yet, I think that the girls should remain television-free, Monday through Friday.  They don't watch much television during the week anyway, so it wouldn't be that much of a sacrifice, but there would be so much more reading and playing and so much more peace and harmony.  I also think that Lee and I should be television free at least one or two nights a week, so that we can continue to make headway with our reading.  I also think that we should do this again next year during Lent.  And the year after that.  And the year after that.
Now, if you'll excuse me, we have 19.5 hours worth of shows saved on our DVR to watch....

Second Annual Easter Egg Hunt

We had our second annual Easter Egg hunt, with even more participants than last year.  Ten children (plus one newborn!) and their parents filled our yard on the afternoon of Good Friday for an easter egg hunt, food and plenty of conversation and laughs.  It was a chilly afternoon, but we made the best of it; in fact, the kids hardly seemed to notice the temps as they ran and played.  We are blessed to have wonderful and generous friends, who are really like family to us.  Happy Easter to the LoGiudice, Belin, Dudley and Weiss Families!

All of the kids!

Jazzy, on the hunt! 

Lee and I had to think of interesting places to hide all of the eggs... 

Devin spies an egg. 

Emily and Lex 

Tavio - jumping for joy!

Madison sorting through her loot! 

Devin 

Trish helps the kids sort through their eggs. 

Victoria and Elizabeth, eating in the "kids corner."

Apryl's (CB) awesome Easter basket cupcakes!

Easter Week

We know that it's really Holy Week but around here, it's a non-stop Easter party, beginning last Saturday and going straight through this Sunday evening.  This past weekend, we went to an Easter Egg hunt at St. Pius on Saturday and an Easter Bizarre at St. Mary's on Sunday afternoon.  Two egg hunts in less than 24 hours = more candy than Halloween!  Palm Sunday mass was a hit - they loved the palms and Elizabeth actually followed along with the entire reading of the Passion (and asked plenty of questions along the way).  Later this week, we have yet another egg hunt and then, look forward to celebrating over the weekend with our closest friends and our family.

The kids take off!

At the St. Pius Easter Egg hunt. 

Elizabeth and her friend Sharon search for more and more candy. 

Emily temporarily got over her fear of characters for a photo with the Easter Bunny at the St. Mary's Easter Bizarre. 

Elizabeth and the Easter Bunny. 

Emily, on the hunt at St. Mary's.

More loot!